SFU professor willing to be arrested to make greenhouse gas statement

METRO VANCOUVER -- A Simon Fraser University professor with a long and distinguished academic career said Thursday he is tired of political inaction on greenhouse gases and is prepared to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience scheduled for this weekend on the White Rock waterfront.

Mark Jaccard, a 57-year-old professor of sustainable energy, said in an interview he plans to participate in a protest Saturday near the White Rock pier, stopping Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) trains from delivering U.S. coal into B.C. for export.

He said he is fully prepared to get arrested for trespassing onto railway property, but stressed his actions would be peaceful and non-violent.

"I feel absolutely sick to volunteer for something like this," he said in an interview. "It is not how I see myself."

Jaccard, who joined SFU in 1987, said his expertise is designing computer models that show how policies can be implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, be it through a carbon tax, regulations, or subsidies.

"That's how I'd rather live my life," he said. "But I feel I am in a world now where there isn't any place for sane analysis."

British Columbians for Climate Action (http://stopcoal.ca) have written Warren Buffett, owner of BNSF, to announce its intentions to block the company's coal trains from midnight to midnight on Saturday.

"There will be no property destruction," the letter states. "We are striving to be the best citizens we can. We will stand up for what we believe is right and conduct ourselves with dignity."

The group describes coal as the "dirtiest of fossil fuels" and criticized the railway for shipping coal to be burned in Asia. "No matter where this coal is burned, it brings us closer to a climatic point of no return."

The group says that unloaded coal trains will also be stopped, but not other freight or passenger trains.

Gus Melonas, BNSF spokesman in Seattle, said railway police have met with the RCMP and Canadian National, which contracts for security measures. "We are hoping this group can take their message elsewhere rather than an active rail line. It's dangerous. We take this matter seriously. We are prepared for the situation.

"An option is to issue citations for criminal trespassing. The property is private and it's illegal to trespass."

Melonas said the company can run two or three trains daily at up to 127 coal cars each into B.C, destined either for Westshore Terminals at Tsawwassen or for Prince Rupert.

Asked if BNSF coal trains could take an alternative route Saturday, he would only say: "We're looking into various options at this point."

Jaccard said he is frustrated by government inaction on the greenhouse gas issue, including the federal Conservative government through its support of the Alberta oilsands and the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project proposed to send Alberta bitumen west to Kitimat for export by tankers.

"We're in a situation in Canada right now that is just really scary," he said.

Jaccard said he also had hopes for greater action on the climate front in the U.S. after the election of President Barack Obama, but those hopes have fallen apart due to political fighting in Congress.

"How will people ask two decades from now what we did today?" he said. "When I think about that I just realize if we have governments that aren't acting, someone has to do something."

Jaccard received the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Donner Prize for top policy book in Canada with his book Sustainable Fossil Fuels, and the BC Academic of the Year Prize. He is Convening Lead Author for Sustainable Energy Policy with the upcoming Global Energy Assessment, an initiative of the world's leading experts in sustainable energy.

He is the former Chair and CEO of the BC Utilities Commission, and currently is also an advisor to the California Energy Commission.

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